Covid vaccine: NHS Wales staff prepare for first injections

Coronavirus vaccinations in Wales have brought "hope for the first time in a long time," a senior doctor has said.

Dr Matt Morgan, an intensive care consultant at University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, will be among the first to get the Pfizer/BioNTech jab.

Front-line NHS staff and over-80s will be the first to get the vaccination.

The rollout of the vaccine in Wales comes a few days after a second mass-testing programme was launched in the lower Cynon valley, Rhondda Cynon Taf.

Speaking to BBC Radio Wales, Dr Morgan said: "I'm feeling kind of proud, in a way, that science and medicine and humanity has made this vaccine in less than a duration of a pregnancy.

"From when the first patient was admitted to intensive care in Cardiff with Covid, it will be 38 weeks to the day tomorrow, and it is pretty remarkable that in that time, the vaccine is here.

"Because of that, I am feeling hopeful, for the first time in a long time, I think.

"But also, I am realistic - this isn't going to make things better overnight and all of the other things that society and the public have been doing, sadly, remain more important than ever."

The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was the first to be approved for use by UK regulators last week, and requires two separate injections, a few weeks apart.

Dr Morgan said the vaccine was "simple" to book and he had a date booked for both of his jabs, but warned it would not affect how medical professionals work.

"It doesn't change anything on the ground, we will still have to wear PPE, we will still have to use social distancing, 'hands, face, space', and so on, the same as everybody else in society, so that doesn't change anything," he said.

"Although this is a new vaccine, it is another vaccine, and we have all had flu vaccines or other things in the past. It is no different, in many ways, than those."

The first injections come days after the introduction of mass testing in a second Welsh location, after centres were set up in the lower Cynon valley.

Dr Kelechi Nnoaham, director of public health for Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board, said almost 1,500 tests had been carried out over the weekend, with 17 positive results.

It was the second Welsh area to have a mass testing centre, following Merthyr Tydfil.

He said: "It's been received very positively... we're very pleased and grateful for how our communities have engaged with this initiative.

"All across Wales the numbers are rising... it means some transmission from person to person is still going on."